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Line 29: + + + + + + + + + + + + − The political and constitutional debate among whites led to the secession of the Deep South and to the Civil War in 1861. The new Republican Party saw slavery as an evil that had to be eventually put on the road to extinction. In the war, however, abolition became a tool to Union victory, as strategized by [[Abraham Lincoln]]. He thrilled the anti-slavery forces by issuing the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863; the proclamation had the effect of freeing most of the 4 million slaves. +
→Age of abolition, 1840-1877: add Civil War
==Age of abolition, 1840-1877==
==Age of abolition, 1840-1877==
see also [[American Civil War]]; and [[Reconstruction]]
see also [[American Civil War homefront]]; and [[Reconstruction]]
===1840-1860===
The Quakers, as well as Evangelical churches in the U.S. and Britain, led the battle for abolition of slavery. The abolition movement in the U.S. was highly visible and extremely controversial, but it was never large--with fewer than 50,000 activists at most, about half of them free blacks living in the North.
The Quakers, as well as Evangelical churches in the U.S. and Britain, led the battle for abolition of slavery. The abolition movement in the U.S. was highly visible and extremely controversial, but it was never large--with fewer than 50,000 activists at most, about half of them free blacks living in the North.
Over 1 million slaves were moved from the older seaboard slave states, with their declining economies to the rich cotton states of the southwest; many others were sold and moved locally. Berlin (2003) argues that this "Second Middle Passage"
Over 1 million slaves were moved from the older seaboard slave states, with their declining economies to the rich cotton states of the southwest; many others were sold and moved locally. Berlin (2003) argues that this "Second Middle Passage"
:shredded the planters' paternalist pretenses in the eyes of black people and prodded slaves and free people of color to create a host of oppositional ideologies and institutions that better accounted for the realities of endless deportations, expulsions and flights that continually remade their world.
:shredded the planters' paternalist pretenses in the eyes of black people and prodded slaves and free people of color to create a host of oppositional ideologies and institutions that better accounted for the realities of endless deportations, expulsions and flights that continually remade their world.
===Civil War===
see [[American Civil War homefront]]
The political and constitutional debate among whites led to the secession of the Deep South and to the Civil War in 1861. The new Republican Party saw slavery as an evil that had to be eventually put on the road to extinction. In the war, however, abolition became a tool to Union victory, as strategized by [[Abraham Lincoln]]. The point was that slavery was a main prop of the rebellion, and to win the war it had to be eliminated. Emancipation would have the effect of energizing Confederates who feared a race war, but it would also energize Northerners who saw it as a moral cause, and would help keep Europe from supporting the rebels.
At the beginning of the war some Union commanders thought they were supposed to return escaped slaves to their masters. By 1862, when it became clear that this would be a long war, the question of what to do about slavery became more general. The Southern economy and military effort depended on slave labor. It began to seem unreasonable to protect slavery while blockading Southern commerce and destroying Southern production. As one Congressman put it, the slaves "cannot be neutral. As laborers, if not as soldiers, they will be allies of the rebels, or of the Union."<ref>James MacPherson, ''Battle Cry of Freedom'' (1988) page 495</ref> The same Congressman—and his fellow Radical Republicans—put pressure on Lincoln to rapidly emancipate the slaves, whereas Conservative Republicans came to accept gradual, compensated emancipation and colonization.
In 1861 Lincoln expressed the fear that premature attempts at emancipation would mean the loss of the border states, and that "to lose Kentucky is nearly the same as to lose the whole game."<ref>Lincoln's letter to O. H. Browning, Sep 22, 1861</ref> At first Lincoln reversed attempts at emancipation by Secretary of War Simon Cameron and Generals [[John C. Fremont]] (in Missouri) and [[David Hunter]] (in the South Carolina Sea Islands) in order to keep the loyalty of the border states and the War Democrats. Lincoln then tried to persuade the border states to accept his plan of gradual, compensated emancipation and voluntary colonization, while warning them that stronger measures would be needed if the moderate approach was rejected. Only the District of Columbia accepted Lincoln's gradual plan, and Lincoln issued his final Emancipation Proclamation on January 1 of 1863. In his letter to Hodges, Lincoln explained his belief that "If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong … And yet I have never understood that the Presidency conferred upon me an unrestricted right to act officially upon this judgment and feeling ... I claim not to have controlled events, but confess plainly that events have controlled me."<ref> Lincoln's Letter to A. G. Hodges, April 4, 1864</ref>
The Emancipation Proclamation, announced in September 1862 and The [[Radical Republicsn]] put intense political pressure on Lincoln to use emancipation as a weapon. The problem was that he needed first to shore up pro-Union support in key border states, especially Kentucky. Only after it was safe could he act, and then he needed a military victory first. Lincoln thrilled the anti-slavery forces by announcing the Emancipation Proclamation in September 1862; the official proclamation came on January 1, 1863, and it had the effect of freeing most of the 4 million slaves. It also greatly reduced the Confederacy's hope of getting aid from Britain or France. Lincoln's moderate approach succeeded in getting border states, War Democrats and emancipated slaves fighting on the same side for the Union.
====Border states====
The Union-controlled border states (Kentucky, Missouri, Maryland, Delaware and West Virginia) were not covered by the Emancipation Proclamation. All abolished slavery on their own, except Kentucky. The great majority of the 4 million slaves were freed by the Emancipation Proclamation, as Union armies moved South. To handle this problem Lincoln proposed the a constitutional amendment. The 13th amendment, passed by Congress in February 1865 and ratified by the states in December 1865, finally freed the remaining 40,000 slaves in Kentucky.<ref> It also freed 1,000 or so slaves in Delaware and some lifetime servants in West Virginia, as well as black slaves owned by Indians in Oklahoma.</ref>
===Reconstruction===
===Reconstruction===
See [[Reconstruction]]
==Age of Jim Crow, 1877-1954==
==Age of Jim Crow, 1877-1954==